Students

Founded in 1987, the Tufts Traveling Treasure Trunk, or just TRUNK for short, is Tufts’ only children’s theater troupe. The members of TRUNK write, direct and create costumes for their original skits, songs and plays. They perform for children at daycare centers, hospitals and preschools up to five times a week. They are dedicated to showing kids that being grown-up does not mean always being serious and having no fun. Additionally, every show they perform contains different morals, from sharing and helping others to the importance of being creative. This year TRUNK is raising money for Birthday Wishses, a non-profit organization based in Massachusetts that provides birthday parties for homeless children.

Currently TRUNK is in the midst of preparing and performing their latest show, “Toco the Toucan’s Color Conundrum,” which tells the story of a toucan who is in charge of giving leaves their fall colors. After losing the colors right before he has to paint, he ends up going on a incredible adventure with his best friend who is a mouse.

For more information about what TRUNK does and its dedicated members, watch their video below:

During the past weeks, the Tufts campus was transformed in to a sea of yellow (Thibodeau), purple (Maciejewski) and red (Donenfeld) flyers, posters, shirts and chalk drawings. All three candidates were backed by large groups of passionate undergrads who wanted to help elect the candidate they believed would be best for the position for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Two of the candidates even released videos about themselves and why they should be elected the next TCU President. Check them out:

At Pao Bhangra this year were Tufts Bhangra, Anakh E Gabroo, First Class Bhangra and Yale Jashan Bhangra. Pao Bhangra is the largest student-run show at Cornell as well as the largest Bhangra exhibition in all of North America – last year’s show had an audience of more than 2,600 people. The theme of this year’s event was The Bhangra Olympics.

The Tufts University Bhangra Team was founded in 2001. The group is comprised of energetic and talented student dancers who are dedicated to bringing the best of Bhangra to audiences at Tufts and elsewhere.

Watch the video below to see Tufts Bhangra’s great performance at the 2013 Pao Bhangra:

The 2013 Tufts Alumni Senior Award winners recently reflected on their experiences at Tufts in a video released by the Tufts Alumni Association. The winners were chosen because they are individuals that each serve as an “example for their peers and all alumni by demonstrating service, loyalty, commitment, and leadership to Tufts and/or their community.”

In the video below, this year’s 12 winners reflect on their best memories of Tufts, from wearing Jumbo hats and joining Greek Life to the craziest places they found themselves at 2 am.

Congratulations to these amazing seniors and good luck with life beyond Tufts!

Tufts Quidditch is fundraising in order to get to nationals. This year their traveling team placed fourth in the Northeast regionals in order to secure a point in the national championship. Tufts Quidditch took second place at the 2010 Quidditch World Cup and after a few difficult years are making a comeback!

They made a fundraising page on the site gofundme.com and have raised about half of their goal so far. In addition, they have been selling shirts in the campus center as another way to raise funds. The shirts, as you can see below, highlight the differences and similarities between Hogwarts and Tufts.

Good luck to the Tufts Qudditch team in raising enough funds to attend the national championship in Orlando, Florida! Bring back a trophy!

Two Tufts Students, Danielle Feerst, A16, and Isabella Slaby, A15, are currently raising funds for their business, AutismSees. They are working to create an iOS app for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The goal of the app is to help individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders to improve their social skills, personal presentation skills, and leadership development.

The app has a range of important features, such as using the device’s camera in order to give video feedback to the user. Any text can be imported into the app and visual cues will be embedded to make the user look up at a pair of eyes on the top of the screen, as many individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders have difficulty with making eye-contact.

The part of their app they are currently raising funds for is “Text to Speech” technology. Basically, software will be embedded in the displayed text in order to detect vocal intonation, mispronunciations and timing of the user’s speech. This feature will help individuals to improve pronunciation, respond to questions on time and build vocabulary.

Watch the video below to see Danielle and Isabella discuss more details about their app and why they believe it can improve many lives:

BYL issued a challenge to the entire Tufts campus: Eat five servings of fruits and vegetable every day during Tufts Healthy Week. Eating five servings of fruits and veggies is what everyone should aim to do every day, but for many this can be difficult.

BYL turned this healthy week into an opportunity for people to publicize their healthy eating habits. By uploading pictures of meals that include at least two servings of fruits or vegetables to Facebook or Instagram, students were entered into a daily raffle.

The Tufts Jumbo Jugglers recently held a performance as a chance for the Tufts community to come see the amazing skills that these Jumbos refine every week. The group practices a variety of styles and techniques, including balls, contact staff, clubs, rings and devil sticks.

Their performance included guest acts by Vassar College’s Barefoot Monkeys, an acrobatic duo, and Cirque de Light, a local performing duo.

Watch the videos below for a taste of what Tufts’ juggler’s can do and click here for more videos:

The group, made up of both road and mountain bikers, will post photos and videos from their races and other team rides on the new Tumblr. Pictures from the Rutgers race weekend and the Men’s A Circuit Race at the Philly Phlyer are up now – check them out!